Dell plans to slash 8,800 jobs, cut $3 billion in costs

Dell reported an $11.6B profit last year, but the company apparently isn't satisfied -- it just announced a plan to shave off $3B in costs over the next three years. As you'd expect, it's going to take a little more than off-brand soda and thrift store uniforms to achieve the squeeze: 6,500 jobs are due to be eliminated (on top of 3,200 already cut) and a desktop manufacturing plant in Austin is scheduled to close as well. The big chunk, however, is going to come putting the squeeze on design, manufacturing, and logistics, as well as cutting component and material costs across all Dell product lines. That's the part that has us a little worried, actually -- we're fans of new Dells like the XPS M1330, here's hoping this doesn't mean a return to beige boxes.